Shinji Ono to leave Western Sydney Wanderers at end of A-League season

Marquee Japanese star set to leave a massive hole in the Australian side.

Western Wanderers star Shinji Ono is set to leave the club at the end of the season and link up with Japanese second division club Consadole Sapporo.

The curtain is set to come down on Ono’s two-year stint at Western Sydney at the conclusion of the Asian Champions League group stage and the Wanderers A–League campaign.

fanatix understands that Ono has been growing homesick recently as his wife and children remain in Japan and he is eager to return home to be closer with his family.

The 34-year-old is understood to have agreed to terms with Consadole Sapporo to join them after his commitments with the Wanderers and will arrive at his new club in May, two months after the start of the J-League Division 2 season.

Ono signed as the Wanderers inaugural marquee player in September 2012 and has since become a fan favourite at Pirtek Stadium, largely due to his influential role in the Wanderers shock triumph in the regular season last year.

The former Urawa Red Diamonds, Feyenoord and Shimizu S-Pulse star was immediately branded as one of the faces of the competition alongside marquees Alessandro Del Piero and Emile Heskey and was initially uncomfortable with the pressure that came with that status.